Herein the term foundation garment is intended to mean any garment providing breast support, e.g. undergarments such as brassieres (bras), or outer garments such as swimwear. The term all-in-one foundation garment is intended to mean a garment incorporating a brief means or arrangement as well as providing breast support means.
In the field of women's clothing there is a current fashion trend for garments or clothing such as dresses, tops, blouses and the like to have a low cut back, or to be “backless” (at least to some extent), and/or to be shoulderless or strapless. However, conventional foundation garments are unsuitable for wearing with clothes of these styles as conventional strap arrangements and/or back panels usually “show”, or are visible due to the cutaway nature of the clothing. This has resulted in women having a wish to wear these “backless”, shoulderless or strapless clothes, but if reluctant to go without breast support, having to look for alternative breast support arrangements. Such arrangements have generally involved a cup arrangement which is either itself adhesive or is attached to the breasts by adhesive means. However, these cup arrangements require a degree of skill and/or practise in order to be positioned correctly and effectively, and can lack “security” in that the wearer may not be confident that the cup arrangement will remain in place for the duration of the period for which it is worn.
A further problem created by clothing having a low cut backless design is that many conventional briefs will be visible above the line of the clothing at the base of the back.
GB 2 381 733 A also by the present Applicant, seeks to address one or more of these problems by providing a foundation garment comprising breast support means and strap means, and wherein the foundation garment is backless. The content of GB 2 381 733 A is incorporated herein by reference.
There is also a trend in ladies fashion towards low cut or plunge garments, e.g. dresses, tops, blouses and the like having substantially no covering between inner sides of each breast and an area extending down towards, and preferably below, the navel. Similar problems as described above with respect to “backless” garments are experienced with respect to such “frontless” garments.
It is an object of at least one embodiment of at least one aspect of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one of the aforementioned problems in the prior art.
It is a further object of at least one embodiment of at least one aspect of the present invention to seek to fulfil a need in the art.